A Walk in the Woods

... with apologies to Bill Bryson because this post isn't funny.

Since I wasn't getting anything accomplished, I decided I should go take an easy walk, somewhere that didn't require a lot of chugging up a mountain but that would still yield a view. So I decided to head over to the Appalachian Gap and head south 2 some-odd miles on the Long Trail in the general direction of General Stark Mountain.


En route on the road that traverses the ridge between my town and the next valley, I stopped to take this shot of my favourite mountain, Camels Hump.

Having ditched the car, I started out on a cool and cloudy afternoon. For the most part, the trail goes up from the gap and then mostly levels out since one is walking on the spine of the Greens.


There is, however, one spot where the Green Mountain Club has installed a ladder. One probably could get up/down that set of rocks but with a 35-pound pack, the ladder surely is welcome.

I was beginning to wonder when I was going to see anything because I knew I was skirting the perimeter of Mad River Glen ski area. My map is downstream so I was operating on memory. Still, I was surprised when I saw a patch of grass at a clearing and then realised that it is the summit of the double chair that doesn't go quite as high as the single but is one that I took several times on my one day skiing in March. If I had continued another half mile, I would have ended up at the Stark lodge but decided to stop and enjoy the view.


This shot looks north-east toward the Vermont Piedmonts. The town of Waitsfield lies at the bottom of the gap; behind it is the ridge behind which I live. And way off in the distance is Spruce Mountain well beyond Barre.


Here are a couple of shots from my perch on the off-ramp to the chairlift. Way at the bottom of this trail lies Route 17 that wends its way up and over the gap.


This view looks a bit more northward.


And this is northwest.


There lies Camels Hump, due north, head on. The Long Trail takes you from where I took this photo down and then up and then down and then up the end of Camels Hump.


Coming back I saw this beautiful field of lupine so I pulled over (why not — the guy in front of me with God stickers all over his car was going 10 mph under the speed limit, crawling) to take a shot. This is the time of year that leaping lupine is everywhere on the side of the road.

All in all, it was a restorative afternoon. Even though I have tons to do in preparation for next week, I needed to get outside to hear the birds, smell the pine and just be.